Why is the Supreme Court scrutinizing the state gun laws?”
Gun control advocates are hoping they can win by losing when the Supreme Court rules on state and local regulation of firearms. The justices will be deciding whether the right to possess guns guaranteed by the Second Amendment – like much of the rest of the Bill of Rights – applies to states as well as the federal government. It’s widely believed they will say it does. But even if the court strikes down handgun bans in Chicago and its suburb of Oak Park, Ill., that are at issue in the argument to be heard Tuesday, it could signal that less severe rules or limits on guns are permissible. The Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence is urging the court not to do anything that would prevent state and local governments “from enacting the reasonable laws they desire and need to protect their families and communities from gun violence.” By some estimates, about 90 million people in the U.S. own a total of some 200 million guns. Roughly 30,000 people in the United States died each year from guns;
Supreme Court to scrutinize state, local gun laws McClatchy Newspapers * Buzz up!2 votes * Send o Email o IM * Share o Facebook o Twitter o Delicious o Digg o Fark o Newsvine o Reddit o StumbleUpon o Technorati o Yahoo! Bookmarks * Print * Skilling and the Supreme Court Play Video U.S. Courts Video:Skilling and the Supreme Court CNBC By Michael Doyle, McClatchy Newspapers Michael Doyle, Mcclatchy Newspapers – Fri Feb 26, 5:03 pm ET WASHINGTON — State and local gun laws are in the crosshairs as the Supreme Court prepares for a historic oral argument Tuesday. The conservative majority that struck down Washington, D.C.’s , handgun ban in 2008 appears poised to stretch the Second Amendment further. The hourlong session Tuesday will let justices test-fire arguments in a case in which the reasoning could be as intriguing as the outcome. For gun owners and lawmakers, the case called McDonald v. City of Chicago presents one bottom line: If the court agrees that the Second Amendment covers stat
State and local gun laws are in the cross-hairs as the Supreme Court prepares for a historic oral argument Tuesday. The conservative majority that struck down Washington, D.C.’s , handgun ban in 2008 appears poised to stretch the Second Amendment further. The hourlong session Tuesday will let justices test-fire arguments in a case in which the reasoning could be as intriguing as the outcome. For gun owners and lawmakers, the case called McDonald v. City of Chicago presents one bottom line: If the court agrees that the Second Amendment covers state and local governments, as seems likely, some but not all gun restrictions will be blown away. For constitutional scholars, the court’s means may be as important as its ends. In order to eliminate Chicago’s gun ban, court conservatives could end up overturning a 137-year-old precedent that’s hindered the expansion of new rights.
